Page 52 of A Curse So Cruel (Fated Mates of Shadowbone Academy #1)

Twisting my head, I grin when I find there isn’t anyone behind me.

Wheezing, I slow to a walk and desperately suck air into my burning lungs.

Okay, I just have to get over the wall. You can do this, Shade.

You can— My thought fizzles out when the crystal in my hand starts to glow.

Light ignites like an ember in the center of the stone, growing brighter the longer I stare at it.

What? But that must mean the relic is close?

I peer around me, but there isn’t anything besides the usual trees and bushes you’d find in the forest. Changing direction, I take a step to my left, and the stone glows even brighter.

I pause, considering. I could try and find the relic and attempt to win the hunt, but even if it is close, what are my chances?

My heart pounds, and my gaze strays back to the wall. I can’t risk it. Not when I’m so close to freedom. And not when Thane and the others probably want to make me disappear. I saw what Knox did to Satine, and I can only imagine what he has planned for the mate who’s destined to break him.

I place the crystal onto the ground, because there’s no way I’m taking that thing into the demon realm, and I take another step toward the wall when a high-pitched whistle sounds through the trees.

Instantly, my blood chills, foreboding creeping over me.

No. Not when I’m so close! I stare at the wall.

Can I run for it and scale the wall before they catch me?

Once I start climbing, there won’t be any cover, but I don’t really have a choice.

Not giving myself any longer to think about it, I start running. I’ve only made it three steps when a twig cracks behind me. Startled, I twist my head to see where the noise is coming from. As I do, I accidentally veer directly into the path of a tree, and I slam into the trunk. Oof!

I cry out as I smack into the wood, and I fall to the ground, sweaty, heaving, and possibly concussed.

“Ohhh, did you see that?” A masculine voice mocks and lets out a belly laugh.

“Fucking pathetic,” another male voice answers. “They could have at least chosen a Token who would challenge us.”

Lifting my head, I blink a few times until my vision clears, and fear makes my heart hammer when I see six students stride from the trees to my right.

There are three guys and three girls, and they move quickly, surrounding me on all sides.

The guys are all older students, and I recognize Craig amongst them—one of the most powerful students at Shadowbone.

But the girls… I stare at Satine with a look of pure disbelief.

Firstly, I’m surprised she’s healed enough to join in the hunt, and secondly, after what happened I can’t believe she’s here.

“But I saved you,” I rasp, still struggling to believe my eyes and unable to keep the hurt out of my voice.

I mean, I hadn’t thought we’d become besties after that, but I had thought she might be just a little nicer to me.

That she wouldn’t, you know, be the one to hunt me down and slaughter me.

Then again, she has already tried to kill me once, so I guess I’m just naive.

Satine shifts on her feet uneasily, and there’s a flash of guilt in her eyes before she blinks and the cruel expression she usually wears is back in view.

“What, you didn’t think she’d miss this, did you?” Paiton says with a laugh.

“This is our fast-track to graduation,” Izzy adds, giving me a crazed smile.

“And immortality,” Satine says, her eyes dark.

I wobble as I lift to my feet, bracing my back against the tree trunk behind me.

Craig’s lips stretch wide as he stares at me, and I’m guessing he’s the leader of this group. His shadow creature comes up beside him, and he pats the hyena’s neck. “Good boy, Enzorn. You led us right to her.”

What? My eyes snap wider. The shadow creatures weren’t supposed to interfere in the hunt. My hands tremble, because the chances of me surviving against these six were already low, but if they’re willing to let their shadow creatures get involved, then it really isn’t looking good for me.

“So,” Craig says, drawing the large sword from his back. “Shall we get this over with? Who knows, we might get extra points for finishing the hunt quickly.”

The other two men are evenly spaced on either side of me, and they creep closer like his comment was a command.

They’re both wielding their own swords, and I fumble as I pull out one of Kenzie’s blades.

Holding it up, I swipe the dagger from side-to-side, preparing myself to strike if they come any closer.

Okay, no problem. You can deal with this, I tell myself optimistically.

Just somehow defeat six students and possibly their creatures, and then climb the giant wall, Shade.

I don’t tell myself it’s hopeless, even though the odds are definitely not in my favor.

“What the fuck? Can this girl get any more tragic?” one of the guys jeers. “You sure we can’t have some fun with her first?”

Craig sighs heavily like he’s been inconvenienced. “I suppose we don’t have to rush,” he replies, smirking at me and wrapping his free arm over Satine’s shoulders. “He did say he’d make sure we had enough time to get this done.”

He? I have no idea who Craig’s talking about, but I’m starting to understand that Craig and his group weren’t the first ones to find me by chance. Not even if they had the help of their creatures.

The guys closest to me start making vulgar expressions, leering and flapping their tongues in a way that makes it clear what they’re going to do.

I make a face in an effort to disguise my fear. “Is this how you treat all the ladies? Because if it is, I can see why you never get any.”

“You bitch,” one of the guy’s spits, and he grabs for me.

As he reaches forward, I swipe my blade and manage to slice his palm.

He swears, snarling, and a single shadow comes from him, winding around my dagger.

The shadow isn’t strong like the shadows Knox and my mates can control, but it’s powerful enough to knock the blade from my grasp.

I cry out, fumbling to catch it, but the guy on my other side darts forward and grabs my arm.

“No!” I shout, struggling to escape his grip, but his hands are firm, his fingers digging into my skin, and the other guy grabs me as well.

Paiton and Izzy laugh, but Satine shrugs away from Craig, drawing her own sword.

“We don’t have time for this,” Satine says, her eyes narrowed as she keeps her gaze trained on me. “We’re supposed to slay the Token, so let’s do it.”

Craig chuckles, adjusting his grip on his weapon. “And this is why I like you, babe. You never shy away from violence.”

The guys holding me knock the back of my knees, forcing me to kneel, and I bare my teeth, still struggling.

Craig strolls forward casually, like he’s trying to savor this moment.

Shadows pool around his body, and I can’t help it.

Shaky laughter bubbles out of me, because in comparison to my guys, his shadows look like baby snakes darting through the air around him.

It seems ironic that I’d been worried that Knox would kill me, and yet it’s going to be this guy.

“Something funny?” Craig asks, his lip curling as he stares down at me with disgust and irritation.

“Nope,” I reply, but I’m still smiling. I guess I find some comfort in knowing I’ll be going out with a smile on my face.

Then, there’s also the fact that I know if Blake finds out he’s the one who killed me, things are not going to end well for him.

In fact, I’m pretty sure she’ll torture him before she kills him. How’s that for a silver lining?

Craig comes forward with his sword, and instinctively, I reach for my shadow magic.

While I’m glad Blake will make him pay for killing me, it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop fighting.

Using shadow magic hasn’t helped me much in the past, but I don’t have any other options.

Magic floods my body, pain tearing apart my insides.

The sensation of broken magic rolls through me, and I’m not sure what happens, but when I look up, the world looks…

different. There’s a red haze around the edges of my vision, and I’m not looking through my eyes.

No, trees stand to either side of me, and I’m staring at Craig’s…

back? It takes me a moment to realize that I’m not looking through my eyes, but…

someone else’s. I remember what I’d been told about the animali.

That when you bond with your creature, one of the benefits is that you can slip into their mind.

I try not to freak out, because I’m pretty sure that’s what’s happening.

My creature shuffles just beyond the trees behind Craig, and an ancient, dark power ripples through its muscular body. I can tell that whatever it is it’s big, much bigger than a crow, but it’s all still too chaotic in my mind to figure out much more than that.

“What was that?” Paiton hisses, peering back to stare into the trees, no doubt having sensed something is there. She looks directly at my beast, but she mustn’t be able to see it, because she peers away quickly, her attention going elsewhere.

“Hurry the fuck up, Craig,” Satine snaps, and suddenly, my vision changes again. My mind is thrown back into my own body, and I’m staring up at Craig’s ugly face again. Okay, so he’s not really ugly, but his personality certainly makes him unattractive.

A slow smile crawls over my face, because I may not know what my beast is, and we might not have bonded, but I do know that it’s not about to let me die. Well, that’s my hope anyway.

A branch breaks in the direction of where my beast waits, but just as I think the animali might attack, there’s a scream from somewhere not too far in the forest and the sound of clashing steel. My head snaps up, and more shouts and screams come from different directions through the trees.

Craig doesn’t look the least bit surprised, but he does look a little unsettled, and his hold on his blade wavers.

Smoke coils into the air above the trees not far from us, and I frown.

I’d known some of the students would kill each other, but something about it all feels…

wrong. A strange smell wafts near my nose, like rotting corpses and something I can’t place.

Izzy shifts uneasily on her feet.

Like he comes to his senses, Craig lifts his sword, driving the blade forward as he aims for my chest.